Ride Quality Advice

Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster here.
I have a 2000 Extended Cab 2.7 4WD on 32" Wildpeak AT3W's I put on Bilstein 4600 shocks about 1 year and 10000 miles ago. And for the last 10000 miles I have been thoroughly unhappy with the ride. The truck definitely handles better and is very cushy over big bumps like speed bumps (thus the digressive valving). But over small to small/medium bumps the ride is God awful. If I hit something like a manhole cover the whole cab seems to shake side to side and rattles like crazy, and it makes the truck very difficult to control at freeway speeds when hitting rough patches of road. I initially thought it was the cause of worn-out suspension parts, and with 180k miles I knew some stuff was due to be replaced anyways. So, the entire front end is brand new in terms of ball joints, control arms, bushings, steering rack, tie rods, everything but the sway bar end links. The ride is still awful 4k miles after that. I just need some advice, if its possibly the nature of the shocks themselves, or something else causing my issue. Thank you for any and all advice!

 

Go all out and get Fox/Icon/King shocks, and you'll be much more comfortable, but much more poor.

Short of doing that, your efforts will be fruitless. Trucks ride rough unless you go with top tier shocks. My friend has Fox 2.0s on his '98 and it literally glides over pot holes.

 

Thank You!
I have definitely been looking at other shock options, leaning between fox 2.0's or Dobinson's IMS because they are in a slightly similar price bracket. I mostly daily drive the vehicle and because its a 4cyl, I don't tow or haul much of anything. And living in Arizona, when I offroad there are many washboards too, so comfort is a major priority to me.

 

I totally get that. I will add that I have Alcan leaf springs on my Tacoma and they've really made a difference in how my truck feels on washboard roads. I still have 5100's all around though and having felt the Fox shocks in my friend's truck, I know my truck could be a lot better. Maybe someday, because I can't blow $2k on shocks right now.

 

If you never really haul anything Why a Truck?

The difference between my 4Runner and Tacoma ride is massive. I would need at least 500 pounds in the Tacoma to even come close to the same ride.

The 4Runner is so very soft riding Much better in the Snow then a empty truck.

Why so many buy trucks spend Thousands of Dollars trying to get a soft ride in a vehicle meant to carry a few hundred pounds or more. Then complain about the ride.

 

Kind of the pickup dance of these old vehicles. I find that when I haul stuff and have about 700lbs. in the bed the dance goes away and it rides fairly well and behaves. I also have upgraded suspension. How are all your bushings? Control arms bushings, tie rod ends, stabilizer bar bushings etc? I had some bad control arm bushings and replacing those made a noticeable difference.

 

I would be cautious in thinking that fancy shocks alone will turn the harsh ride into a nice cushy one. What tire pressure are you running? Have you done the chalk test? What load range did you get? Looks like that tire comes in SL and E. A 10 ply E range tire might be too harsh for everyday driving.

 

I definitely will check out those add a leaf’s, and thank you for that advice, because i have yet to find anyone to give me a ride to compare shocks, so it’s very good to have that for fox’s in the back of my mind, thank you again!

 

Getting a truck really wasn’t a choice for me, it kindof fell into my hands for a great deal, and i’ve already fallen in love with it so i can’t possibly sell it, especially with all the work i’ve done to it. And i know my ride will never be as good as a 4runner, it can’t be perfect but i just want to make it as good as it can be!

 

All the control arm bushings, springs, tie rods, steering rack, every part in the front end has 4k miles on it, i already went through that “throw parts at it” stage
replacing them definitely made a difference in terms of steering precision and the overall stability of the truck, but the ride didn’t change much unfortunately

 

No problem, just to clarify though, Alcan springs make only complete replacement leaf spring packs, not individual Add-a-leafs. Good luck and feel free to report back on the results if you spring for some top-tier shocks

 

I have them running at 33-35 psi cold, and they are a 115T Passenger rated tire, so the softest compound and softest sidewall i can get in that size, which seems to be a good option for the light taco, but i have not done the chalk test yet, i will do some research into that, thank you!

 

Thank you for clarifying, they do seem to be quite nice leaf packs from what i can see, so i’ll talk to them and maybe get a quote! and if/when i decide to spring for some better shocks i’ll absolutely stop in with an update, thank you for all your help!

 

Very valid reason !

 

Just wanted to update this Thread almost a year later with my findings and what I’ve done in case anyone else is looking. In regards to the rear, I replaced the leaf springs and bushings with factory replacement leaf springs (I couldn’t stomach the cost of a custom pack at the time) and that made almost no difference in ride, which is understandable. It did however fix the thrust angle on the Alignment Rack, and now the truck goes straight down the road. About a month ago I got a great deal thru work for a set of Fox 2.0’s, front coil-overs and rear shocks. Front shocks went in, no issues and they ride very, very nicely. Exactly what I was looking for! The rear is a different story. They went on fine, but immediately the LR shock started making a terrible clunking noise over any bumps, or just jumping in the bed. Put the Bilstein I took off back on the LR, and sent the Fox shock off to be Rebuilt under warranty. Fantastic customer service and responses thru email, and a fast turnaround time on the rebuild, I can’t give enough props to their in house team. I got the rebuilt shock back and installed it that day, clunk was gone and rear shocks are silent. But it rides very very harsh on the rear like a pogo stick, more akin to the ride of a 2500/3500 HD pickup over speed bumps and such. They don’t feel remotely like the front shocks, you could fool me into thinking there were 2 different brands on the truck. Way harsher even than the bilsteins. No idea if my freshly rebuilt shock is bad again or what, or if this is how the rears are supposed to ride. Again, any and all advice or comments are appreciated, thank you!

 

Who makes these "factory replacement leaf springs" you installed?

I doubt Toyota still makes those, and I'm willing to bet your harsh ride is due to those, and those Fox 2.0s simply cannot overcome how harsh those leaf springs are. In the meantime some weight in the bed will probably help immensely. Maybe try 3-4 full sandbags or something similar in weight (150-200 lbs.).

FWIW: I have Alcan custom leafs and my truck rides pretty nicely even when totally unloaded with no weight in the bed.

 

The leafs are made by Husky spring, just a factory style leaf pack. No extra weight capacity or lift or anything. The problem is, I put the leaf springs on about 5 months ago and did the last 4 months of driving on the bilsteins with the new leaf’s, and there was no noticeable difference in ride quality between the factory leafs with bilsteins, and the new leafs with bilsteins. The change in ride quality only happened when I put on the fox shocks just recently, leading me to believe the fox were the issue. And yes I do eventually plan on getting Alcans, I got a quote for them but just couldn’t afford them at the time. Thank you!

 

Oh I gotcha. In that case maybe the Fox shocks you got were valved improperly. I only say that because my friend has the same Fox 2.0s on his truck (front and rear), and his truck rides very nice. His has some 20 year old factory + AAL pack

 

Thank you very much for the help and advice, i’ll shoot fox support an email tonight. And exactly, that’s all I could find online about these shocks, that they ride very nice - hopefully I can achieve that! I’ll keep this thread updated with the resolution too.

 

Got an email back this morning - They recommended I give it a month or so of driving to break in the shock. And if it’s still an issue after that, then they’ll take a closer look at it. I’ll update in a month or so!